These shocking satellite images show the devastating impact of the relentless fighting in Syria and reveal how both regime and rebel troops are using heavy weapons near homes.

In one picture the small town of Anadan, four miles from second city Aleppo, is shown pockmarked with more than 600 craters - some located next to what appears to be a civilian housing complex.

That, says Amnesty International who published the July 31 picture, is a result of the fierce fighting that is blighting the north-western city.

Other images show the build-up of Syrian troops and their rebel enemies inside the city itself, while further ones detail trucks on fire and cars in line for rapidly-running out fuel.

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Battle scars: This is what Amnesty International believes are 600 artillery impact craters from heavy fighting between Syrian armed forces and armed opposition groups in the village of Anadan, just four miles from Aleppo

Battle: The location of probable artillery impact craters can be seen right next to civilian homes

Amnesty said it was 'alarmed' about the plight of civilians around Aleppo.

And the human rights watchdog warned both forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebels that attacks on civilians would be documented and the culprits held accountable.

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Amnesty's Christoph Koettl said: 'Amnesty International is sending a clear message to both sides in the fighting.

'Any attacks against civilians will be clearly documented so that those responsible can be held accountable.'

From above: The build up of artillery sites can be seen in this image

Lining up: Cars are seen queuing for fuel at one of the only petrol stations left in Aleppo

The group also said it was concerned
that the deployment of heavy weaponry in residential areas would lead to
further human rights abuses and grave breaches of international law.

Koettl added: 'The Syrian military and the opposition fighters must both adhere to international humanitarian law.

JORDAN KING ABDULLAH REVEALS FEARS OVER BREAK UP OF SYRIA

Syrian President Bashar Assad could seek to establish an enclave for his Alawite sect as a 'plan B' if he cannot keep control of the whole of the war-torn country, King Abdullah of Jordan has said.

This, he said, could prompt decades of further problems for the region.

He said: 'I have a feeling that if he can't rule greater Syria then maybe an Alawi enclave is plan B.

'That would be, I think for us, the worst case scenario because that means then the break up of greater Syria.

'And that means that everybody starts land grabbing, which makes no sense to me.

'If Syria then implodes on itself that would create problems that would take us decades to come back from.'

'It strictly forbids the use of tactics and weapons that fail to distinguish between military and civilian targets.'

A senior security official said on Sunday the army had completed the buildup in Aleppo of some 20,000 troops. That was in readiness for a decisive showdown in the battle underway since July 20.

The head of the United Nations observer mission in Syria, Lieutenant General Babacar Gaye, voiced concern for civilians trapped in the fighting in the city of some 2.7 million people.

Rebels say they control around half of the city. Publication of the images came after Syrian rebels today said they had killed a Russian general working as an adviser to the Minister of Defence.

They claimed the incident happened in an operation in the western Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus.

A video statement from the 'Hawks Special Operations Battalion...a division of the Military Leadership of Damascus City and Province', gave the name of the general as Vladimir Petrovich Kochyev.

The video, sent to Reuters, showed what the rebels said was a copy of his ID, as issued by the Syrian military.

The same group claimed responsibility for the assassination of four of Assad's top lieutenants in Damascus last month. There was no immediate comment from the Russian authorities.

And it also came after Assad yesterday made his first appearance on state TV in nearly three weeks in a show of solidarity with a senior Iranian envoy.

Battered: This image shows probable civilian-manned roadblocks of trucks and buses along many roads in
Aleppo

Shattered: Syrians through a destroyed wall as they walk on a street in Atareb, on the outskirts of Aleppo, this week

The visit to Damascus by the highest-ranking Iranian official since the uprising began coincided with a warning by an increasingly agitated Tehran that it holds the U.S. responsible for the fate of 48 Iranians seized by Syrian rebels.

Appearing together on state TV, Assad and Iran's Saeed Jalili vowed to defeat the rebels and their backers, while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton predicted Assad's regime was quickly unraveling, with high-level defections such as his prime minister's switch to the rebel side.

Agony: A rebel screams in pain after being hit by shrapnel from a shell fired in the Salaheddine neighbourhood of central Aleppo yesterday

Jalili's visit highlighted Assad's deepening reliance on a shrinking list of allies, led by Tehran. Assad - seen on state TV for the first time since a July 18 bombing in Damascus killed four of his top security officials - used Jalili's visit to portray a sense of command and vowed to fight his opponents 'relentlessly'.

Jalili, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, promised Iran would stand by Syria against its international 'enemies' - a clear reference to the rebels' Western backers and others such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

While there were no public pledges of greater military assistance to Assad, the mission appeared to reflect Iran's efforts to reassure Syria of its backing and ease speculation that Tehran also could be making contingencies for Assad's possible fall.

On a visit to South Africa, Hillary Clinton described Assad's regime as splintering from Monday's defection of Syria's prime minister, Riad Hijab, and other military and political figures breaking away in recent months.

She urged international leaders to begin work on a 'good transition plan' to try to keep Syria from collapsing into more chaos after Assad.

'I am not going to put a timeline on it. I can't possibly predict it, but I know it's going to happen as do most observers around the world,' Clinton told reporters.

A post-Assad Syria presents a host of worrisome scenarios, including a bloody cycle of revenge and power grabs by the country's patchwork of factions, including the Sunni-led rebels and Assad's minority Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam allied with Shiite Iran.

Despite a ferocious government crackdown, the Syrian rebels have grown more confident and are using increasingly bolder tactics. They seized the 48 Iranians in a bold daylight attack near Damascus on Saturday, claiming they were members of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards sent on a 'reconnaissance mission' to assist in Assad's crackdown.

Man down: Mahmoud, a 21-year-old Palestinian resident of Syria, rests in a field hospital after he was found on Monday with three gunshot wounds in the town of Anadan on the outskirts of Aleppo

Ruins: Syrians inspect damages in the Bustan al-Qasr district of Aleppo

Iran says the Iranians, who were captured when their bus was commandeered near the airport, were pilgrims visiting a Shiite shrine on the outskirts of Damascus.

Iran issued a flurry of appeals for their release on Tuesday, with Jalili saying that Iran would spare no effort to secure their freedom.

'We believe that the abduction of innocent people could not be accepted by any rational person. We believe that the parties that support those terrorist groups to commit such disgraceful acts, are their partners,' he said.

In a pointed message to the Obama administration, Iran's Foreign Ministry said that it holds the U.S. responsible for the fate of the abducted Iranians.

On the run: A Free Syrian Army fighter during clashes with Syrian Army in Aleppo

More than 1,300 Syrians fled to Turkey on Tuesday as rebels tried to expand their hold inside Aleppo, Syria's largest city, despite two weeks of withering counterattacks by Assad's troops.

Close to 48,000 Syrians have already taken refuge in Turkey, which has served as a staging ground for rebels. Even more refugees have crossed into Jordan and Lebanon.

And at least 22,300 Iraqis who fled to Syria several years ago have streamed home in the past three weeks, said UN officials in Baghdad as they prepared for more refugees.

In Geneva, meanwhile, the World Health Organization said the fighting has severely hit Syria's health services, including closing down 90 per cent of pharmaceutical plants in Damascus and other main cities and leaving critical shortages of medicine.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic cited a Syrian Health Ministry report that 200 ambulances were lost in recent weeks to theft or clashes.

Aleppo-based activists said clashes were going on Tuesday near the historic city center. That suggested the rebels were making some inroads in Aleppo, which lies some 25 miles from the Turkish border.

Intense government bombardment of the
Syrian town of Tal Rafaat closer to the border sent scores of people
spilling into Turkey for safety, according to the activists.

A Turkish government official said 1,328 Syrian refugees had crossed the border Tuesday - nearly double the number of the previous day.

Ahmad Saleh, a Tal Rifaat resident who fled to Turkey, said the town was shelled Monday from the nearby air base of Minnegh, killing at least two people. 'We had to choose between dying in Syria and coming to Turkey,' he said.

A video posted online by activists Tuesday showed a large group of Free Syrian Army rebels in military fatigues and carrying rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles.

The fighters were seen announcing that they were joining the Unification Brigade, the main group of rebels in Aleppo, to assist in the 'liberation' of the city.